everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership (psychologytoday.com)

Sometimes the person using a microaggression may think that they are being nice, inclusive, or toning down an insult. To be totally honest, you’re just making it worse. Here are a few examples of microaggressions that my friends and I have heard and why they are NOT okay:

“You’re too pretty to be gay” – One of my friends gets this one a lot. Yes, they did say that she is pretty, so what’s the problem? The fact that people…